This blog is totally independent, unpaid and has only three major objectives.
The first is to inform readers of news and happenings in the e-Health domain, both here in Australia and world-wide.
The second is to provide commentary on e-Health in Australia and to foster improvement where I can.
The third is to encourage discussion of the matters raised in the blog so hopefully readers can get a balanced view of what is really happening and what successes are being achieved.

Wednesday, July 08, 2015

Here Is Another Source Of Information Error and Lack Of Trustworthiness In The PCEHR.

An audit of the national immunisation register has exposed a number of holes in the system including tardy notification by GPs, poor communication and practice software incompatibilities

The audit of the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR) that covers more than two million children up to the age of seven was carried out by the Australian National Audit Office.

Overall the audit concluded that childhood immunisation data was generally well managed by the department, with accuracy rates in excess of 98%.

However it revealed a number of concerning areas that the authors said needed improvement.

It found one-quarter of immunisation notifications were submitted late by GPs, putting families at risk of having their childcare benefits cancelled because immunisations are deemed overdue after a cut-off of 63 days,

The audit also found simple data entry errors by practice staff such as a wrong date of birth or a misspelled name could lead to duplication or misrecording of a child's immunisation status.

It noted that the Department of Human Services had previously provided field officers to give support and education to general practices in submitting immunisation data correctly.

Another weakness of the ACIR system was that it assumed GPs and parents would check immunisation statements to verify that the data they had submitted had been incorporated into the records.

However, this expectation was not being communicated to GPs, the audit found.

"Human Services' expectations in respect to maintaining the accuracy of the register are not clearly and consistently communicated to parents and providers, and the department should include a statement to this effect in relevant communication materials, including the Immunisation History Statement sent to parents and the monthly payment summaries sent to providers," it recommended.